Family has new hope for Lucy's future

The family of a brave nine-year-old girl with a rare form of cancer are calling on generous Ribble Valley people to donate money for life-saving treatment in the USA.

Lucy Wright was eight years old when she was diagnosed with Stage 4 high risk neuroblastoma – a childhood cancer which usually forms in certain types of nerve tissue.

The diagnosis was devastating for the family, especially for her parents Richard and Carrie and younger brother, Sam, who have launched a major campaign to raise £60,000 for crucial maintenance therapy aimed at keeping children in remission.

Neuroblastoma is an aggressive form of cancer and is believed to have the second highest mortality rate in children – second only to leukaemia. Lucy was diagnosed after being referred to hospital following several weeks of complaining of pain and losing weight. The tumour is housed in her ribcage and the cancer has spread to her pelvis, shoulders and the base of her skull.

Lucy is currently undergoing chemotherapy at The Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, but her treatment plan is gruelling and will take 12 months for her to achieve remission.

Carrie said: “We have every faith that the treatment received here will help Lucy achieve remission. Once she’s achieved this we want her to remain that way. Lucy has a long treatment plan ahead of her to get to this point. In the USA, advances in paediatric oncology show that a two-year treatment on a drug known as DFMO is showing positive results and keeping children in remission, raising a 60% remission rate to a staggering 84%. Whilst still in its trial stages, the results speak for themselves.

“To give Lucy the best possible opportunity for the future she deserves, Richard and I plan to enrol Lucy on the study at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Michigan.

“Once Lucy finishes her treatment in the UK and has achieved remission, we have been told that the hospital will be willing to accept Lucy onto their trial. This is fantastically positive news for us and gives us hope for Lucy’s future, but comes at a cost.”

Over the next 12 months, Carrie and Richard’s family, friends and well-wishers hope to hit the target of £60,000 needed to treat Lucy in Michigan. Her GoFundMe page has already attracted almost £20,000 of donations.”

Carrie added: “We would like to thank everyone for their donations so far. It’s been overwhelming to see how much people care about our little girl. We hope that the fundraising events planned throughout 2019 across the country will enable us to hit the target”.